


Not Friends

by LibbyWeasley



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fitz's recovery, Grumpy Fitz, Happy Ending, Kissing, Season 2, canon-divergent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-30 03:13:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16756594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibbyWeasley/pseuds/LibbyWeasley
Summary: Jemma will do anything to help Fitz, including offering to sleep with him if he does his physical therapy. But things may not unfold quite the way she anticipated. Season 2 fix.





	Not Friends

**Author's Note:**

> The reason this exists is because I'm pretty sure the only way to fix early season 2 would be to add sex.
> 
> A big thank you to @blancasplayground, who puts up with all my nonsense. She is the absolute best!
> 
> In this fic Jemma refers to Fitz's physical therapy, but then of lot of the things she mentions would actually require occupational therapy (small muscles). For simplicity I didn't differentiate between these two, but I would like to apologize to any OTs or PTs who may read this :)

“Fitz, it’s like you aren’t even trying!” Jemma threw her hands up in exasperation. “Are you at least doing all of your exercises?”

“They aren’t...ah, they’re no-not helping.”

Jemma rolled her eyes at his response. The low murmur of other diners surrounded them and she pretended not to notice Fitz struggle with his fork...again.

“You just need some motivation,” she said, pasting on a fake smile and trying to exude cheerfulness. “What is something that you want more than anything? Something you would work for?”

She sat back and studied him when he didn’t respond right away. “Maybe we can find a way to reward you for your efforts, since getting better doesn’t seem to be enough of a reward for you.”

He looked at her with a determined glint in his eye and answered her earlier question. “You.”

“Well, you have me,” she said with a sigh, reaching across the table to cover his hand with hers. “I promise I won’t leave you.”

“No...I-I want you.”

She tried to pull her hand away, but he had turned his hand over and was gripping hers tightly.

“I want every part of you...but you didn’t want me.”

Heat rushed through her at his words. Just because she hadn’t thought about him like that before the pod didn’t mean she hadn’t thought about it since then, which is why she knew his words weren’t true at all. She had thought about him a lot. About their friendship. About how nothing was worth risking that. And about how now they weren’t even friends anymore. Not really.

But before she could explain, he let her hand go and looked away.

“That’s not fair, Fitz. You didn’t even give me a chance to figure out how I felt.”

She knew he was just grumpy and frustrated by his recovery, but his words still hurt.

He had been willing to die for her. Almost did. And now she had lost her best friend, not because she didn’t want to be friends - or even something more - but because he was so distant and refused to let her help.

She was sure she could fix this. But he wouldn’t let her. It was maddening. But maybe she could do this for him.

“Okay.”

His head turned as she said the word and his eyes locked on hers. He licked his lips.

“I will kiss you if you actually do your exercises.”

He snorted. “I don’t want your pity kisses, Simmons. And that wouldn’t be enough for me anyway.”

“What do you want then, Fitz?”

He didn’t answer, just stared at her.

“Would sex be enough?” she asked quietly.

“You’re willing to shag me just to make sure I do my physical therapy? That seems a bit beyond the bounds of friendship, Simmons.”

“Of course not!” She was shocked that he was so direct, and there was a predatory look in his eyes that she had never seen before.

Betrayal and almost dying seemed to be what it took for him to lose his innocence and she ached with sadness for what he had lost, but she also ached with desire. For him. It was very confusing to feel all of these things at once.

“This is all my fault.” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud. But it didn’t feel like they were even friends anymore. Why not do something they apparently both wanted? It couldn’t hurt. And it might even help.

“So, you’ll shag me out of guilt?” He seemed surprised. But he didn’t reject the idea. Another sign of how much he had changed.

“No, I’ll shag you because I want to.” His mouth dropped open. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her admission or the rather frank conversation they were having. Though she noted with no small pleasure that he hadn’t tripped over his words once since they had started discussing this topic. He was focused. He might not believe her yet, but he was paying attention now.

“It’s just sex, Fitz. Nothing to be afraid of.”

She finally had an idea for how to help him, but it was very...unconventional. She didn’t think it would do any harm, but, even so, it was a good thing she wasn’t actually a medical doctor.

She wet her lips and leaned closer to him so no one would overhear. In her most seductive voice she said, “If you want to go to bed with me, then you’ll have to be able to undress me - buttons, snaps, zippers -”

His pupils were dilated and his breath was coming fast. It wasn’t nice to tease him like this, but she wasn’t really teasing. She’d be more than happy to have his hands on her body while he moved over her. But only _after_ he got better.

Dropping her voice further, she continued, “You’d have to work on your dexterity and finger strength...and your stamina.”

She tried her best to sound sultry, not sure if she was succeeding or not. The more she thought about this, the more turned on she got.

“And you’ll have to whisper all the dirty things you want to do with me into my ear.”

At that, Fitz got up and Jemma thought he was going to walk away. Maybe she was pushing him too hard. This was a ridiculous idea anyway, and she was thinking about her own desires instead of what he really needed.

But then he clumsily pulled his chair next to hers.

“S-Simmons?” He looked pained, but he was so close to her now and she didn’t think it was from disgust.

“If we are going to have sex you should probably call me by my first name,” she pointed out.

“Jemma,” he breathed. Her name on his lips sent tingles to her core.

His leg closest to hers was bouncing up and down in agitation and she placed her hand on his thigh to halt the movement. It had been an innocent response. She wanted to calm him, but his muscles tensed under her hand and that sent heat through her again. She’d be lucky to make it through the rest of dinner without jumping him at this rate.

She studied him for a moment, finally making up her mind.

“Fitz, I need you.”

He seemed surprised by this revelation, though she had no idea why. They had been best friends, and lab partners, for years. She hardly knew what to do without him beside her all the time.

“You have to come to the lab.” He started to interrupt her, but she continued on quickly, “No more staying in your room all day. And I’ll help you with your exercises...and when you can do everything I mentioned earlier, then we can try, um, more.”

He was looking at her with a new intensity, and she started to fidget under his attention.

“It is-isn’t that s-si, ah, easy.”

She’d obviously made him uncomfortable again.

“If you don’t want —“

“No! I do. I do want. I just…”

“What, Fitz?” She was trying to be understanding, but she knew her frustration was slipping through.

“Nightmares,” he said under his breath. “I-I have nightmares. And when I wake up, I can’t find you.”

“You haven’t been sleeping?” Well, that explained why he drifted around the base so listlessly. And why he appeared so unfocused all the time.

He shook his head.

“Would it help if I slept with you?” She felt heat on her cheeks, not sure why she was embarrassed now. “Just sleep.”

He didn’t answer, so she added, “Like we used to do...back at the Academy.”

His brow was furrowed, apparently deep in thought. She studied him. Watching him think was one of her favorite things to do.

“Yeah, but that was b-before you said you wanted to have s-s...shag.”

“You said it first,” she teased.

He smiled at her, his first true smile all night, and it felt like her heart would explode. She had missed him. This wasn’t the same, but it was something.

* * *

 

_Six Months Later_

Jemma was sitting next to Fitz, tucked under the covers of his bed. She hardly spent any time in her room anymore, except to grab a change of clothes every morning. Since the night they had dinner together Fitz had been sleeping much better, so she was hesitant to leave him alone. It was for his well-being, and certainly not because she enjoyed waking up in his arms more than was reasonable. He didn’t even wake up much during the night anymore, but she liked to think that was because he could sense her there beside him.

She had even passed up an opportunity to go undercover on her own. She knew she could have done a lot of good for SHIELD, but Fitz was more important than that. And she had promised.

Everything felt comfortable between them again. Over the past few months they had spent more and more time together, and while it had been awkward at first, they had developed a new rhythm and new routines. It occurred to her then that it was the effortlessness of their relationship that had been restored.

They hadn’t talked about anything beyond navigating their sometimes tenuous friendship, but she sometimes felt his eyes linger on her a little longer than they used to. Her eyes lingered on him too, but mostly when he wasn’t looking. But that was the problem with their friendship. Now that they were clearly friends again, she wouldn’t risk that for anything.

“You seem, ah, distracted all of the sudden.” He was studying her and she wondered how long he had been watching her. “Is something wrong?”

“Do you ever feel like you’ve made a huge mistake, but you don’t really want to unmake it?”

She turned towards him as he considered her question.

“No...whatever decisions we make are the ones we were meant to make. Everything happens for a reason.”

“Right...because time is fixed and we can’t change that. You certainly sound very philosophical tonight.”

Silence fell between them. Not a bad silence, but one filled with things unsaid.

“My doctor said I’ve been making a lot of progress.” He smiled shyly at her, and for a moment they could have been the teenagers they were when they first met. She couldn’t help but smile back at him. And even though it hadn’t come up in conversation since that night, they both knew what he was referring to.

And it made her feel awful.

“Fitz...I didn’t want you doing all of this for me. Not really.”

His smile faltered.

“Oh, if you don’t want to anymore —“

“—No, I do. I just never should have offered that as a reward. That wasn’t fair to you.”

She willed him to understand, dropping her gaze to her hands. He reached over and covered her hand with his. His warm, steady hand that didn’t shake at all as he stroked his fingers over her wrist, sending a jolt of awareness through her.

“Look, Simmons, don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t do this for you.”

“You didn’t?” That was a little disappointing, though she knew she should feel better. They were friends again. That was what mattered.

He moved his hand under her chin and tilted her head up so she was looking into his eyes. They were so blue she could get lost in them if she wasn’t careful.

“Maybe a little. Well, completely at first. But you were the one who reminded me about everything that I still want to do and not to let Ward, or Hydra, or anyone else get in the way of that.”

She swallowed, feeling like the world was off-kilter. But he wasn’t done yet.

“I want to do amazing things with you. Invent new technology, save the world. And I want to make love to you...but only if that’s something you want too. In a forever sort of way, not a quick shag for kicks sort of way.”

His voice became deeper and his accent more pronounced the longer he spoke. It made her head spin and her toes curl.

Jemma tried to process his words...and couldn’t. There was no way to sort through the mix of emotions overloading her thoughts. She had tried so hard to keep everything bottled up - to not let any of it escape - and now it was bubbling over all at once.

Fitz was still looking at her, waiting for an answer she wasn’t sure she was ready to give. It seemed like every decision she had made since Ward pushed them into the ocean had been a mistake.

Fitz had handled every part of this better than she had. All she had done was hurt him and hurt their relationship - their future even. And he was still looking at her like she was the center of his universe. He had been wanting to make love to her, to be together, when all she considered was what it would feel like to be with him - like it was really no big deal to cross that line - just because she wanted it. She hadn’t considered what would happen after.

“I don’t deserve you.” Her voice broke as she choked the words out, and suddenly she was surrounded by Fitz, clinging to him and breathing in his familiar scent.

His finger wiped a tear from her cheek and she realized she was crying.

“Don’t cry...I-I’m sorry,” Fitz stuttered, much less confident than he had been moment before. That was her fault too.

“It isn’t you...you are wonderful. It’s me,” she managed to get out, swiping at the tears still falling from her eyes.

“Really, Simmons?” he said, trying to disentangle himself from the arms that she had wrapped tightly around him. “The least you could do is come up with a more creative way of telling me to back off.” He stopped trying to get away from her and pushed a hand through his hair.

“Fitz...it isn’t you. You are the most amazing man I’ve ever met. You are brilliant and funny and so very handsome.” She pressed a kiss to his jaw with every word, and he seemed to relax against her. “I’m sure I don’t deserve the way you are looking at me.”

His arms wrapped around her again, and they just stayed like that until he spoke again.

“You are perfect to me, Jemma.” He said her name in that way that only he could and her heart started beating faster. “You know what I want. But if that’s not what you want, we’ll just be best friends and I’ll be happy with that.”

His voice was low and he whispered the last part into her hair. She shifted closer to him, everything suddenly clear.

“Fitz, I don’t want to be friends anymore.” He tried to pull back far enough to look at her, but she wasn’t sure she could get the words out if she had to look into his eyes, so she scooted onto his lap, her head tucked into his shoulder.

His arms held her in place and she continued, “I feel awful when I’m with you. My stomach hurts, my heartbeat is entirely too fast to be healthy, and I feel tingles - like electricity - every time you come near me.”

“That sounds terrible,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his words.

“And the only thing that’s worse is when we aren’t together.”

“Jemma, I —“

“—No, Fitz, let me finish.” She did look at him now, taking a breath to calm her nerves. “I love you.”

“I know.” The cockiness was back. He was usually only this sure of himself when it came to science.

“Fitz!” She pushed at his arms halfheartedly, not that she actually had any intention of leaving the spot she was settled in.

“There was ample scientific evidence to support that hypothesis.”

“Oh, really?”

“Jemma...you’ve been sleeping in here for months, and you keep staring at me when you think I’m not looking.”

“That doesn’t sound very conclusive,” she pointed out. “I was worried about you.”

“You talk in your sleep,” he shot back.

She couldn’t argue with that. There was no telling what she had said during all those nights she had slept cuddled against his side.

“So, we’re definitely not friends then?” she asked, just to be sure.

“No, I don’t think we’ve been friends for a while now.”

“So then it’s alright if we do this?” She turned her head so she could press her lips against his. It was a little uncomfortable to twist her neck that way, but the feel of his arms around her and his lips sliding against hers more than made up for it.

But she couldn’t stay this way forever, so after a few minutes of slow, exploring kisses, she moved back so she was facing him and planted a knee on each side of him so she was straddling his thighs as he still sat up against the headboard.

She couldn’t remember being happier than she was in this moment, now that she was unquestionably _not_ friends with Fitz. She returned to kissing him, unwilling to stop the sensations rushing through her. The longer the kiss went on the bolder his movements became, and soon his hands crept under her blouse and up her back.

She kept her arms wrapped around his neck, but as he pulled her tighter she obligingly moved closer so her knees were tucked beside his hips.

They eventually parted and as she felt his hot breath against her ear she experimentally shifted her hips and was delighted by his sharp intake of breath.

“Wait...Jemma, what are we doing?”

Jemma studied him, tilting her head to the side. “I thought you were going to whisper what you wanted in my ear...and then get all of these buttons undone.” She gestured at her blouse and gave him an innocent look before smiling.

He leaned close to her ear again, his barely audible words sending heat low in her belly and she more deliberately rocked her hips, feeling the hard length of him against her.

“That seems awfully ambitious.” She bit her lip and looked at him. “But once you put that brilliant mind to something…”

They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment, and then Jemma reached for the buttons of his shirt, not willing to wait another moment.

His hands moved slower and she could see the effort it took for him to keep them steady. Which was why she had his shirt completely undone and pushed off his shoulders before he had even gotten half of her buttons undone.

“I’ll finish these, if you take that off,” she said, gesturing to his shirt.

“Jemma, I want to do it,” he said in a low voice.

Her hands froze halfway to her buttons. It had been so long since she had tried to do something for him that she had forgotten how upset it made him.

“But—“

“Just lie down.” He had turned away to push his shirt off his arms and she appreciated the muscles that flexed as he moved. He had been taking his recovery quite seriously it appeared.

Moving quickly, she pushed down her jeans and settled back on the bed. While she admired his determination, she didn’t think she could wait all night to be with him.

He settled down next to her and she reached for him, one last question she needed to ask.

“If we aren’t friends anymore then what are we?”

“I think that we’re something more than that.” Then his fingers returned to her buttons and he spent the rest of the night showing her exactly what he meant.

**Author's Note:**

> I love your comments and feedback.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @LibbyWeasley.


End file.
